The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-21
A SUMMERDAY ON THE RHINE
The Picturesque Panorama Furnished
by the Rivers Eyer-Changing Shores.
The Famous Fortresses and Castles-The
Beautiful Little Town of Bingen and the
Statue of Germania-Rest at Heidelberg,

the ride from Bonn to Mayence, and, indeed,
from Bonn to Bingen: there is little nothing
between Bingen and Mayence But took the
steamer at Cologne and spent the entire day of
thirteen hours in making the trip. The day was
perfect one. and the ride constant delight
Until Bonn was reached the only diversion was
to watch the diminishing and receding towers of
the Cologne cathedral, which remained in sight
until the great university town reached.
Besides its university Bonn has another claim
to distinction--that of being the birthplace of
Beethoven, to whom a statue in one OF the
squares is erected. There is a motley company
on Rhine steamer, as, indeed, there is any
OF the continental conveyances within the con-
fines of tour-land The majority of those on the
steamer were German and French, but there
was good sprinkling of English, and not a few
Americans. The latter. for the most part, were
young men and women, from eighteen to twen-
ty-three years of age. off on vacation tours
though now and then there comes preacher or
other professional man in search of health for
both mind and body. The English parties are
usually families-heavy, staid, conservative and
conscious. The most vivacious people to be
found the boarding school girls and the col
lege boys from the United States. There are
Goodies" of them; the former In quartets or in
parties under the charge of their lady teachers
of languages. and who delight in trying their
French and German. The boys travel in pairs
generally and what the girls and boys do not
see is not worth looking at. / one party of
American girls, three or four of them, who were
under the charge of gentleman, evidently their
language or music teacher, and with them the
wife of the latter. The wife nonentity,
and the girls and the teacher were having good
time. Looking at them for the best part of
day. and particularly during the evening ride
from Bingen to Mayence, the plan of sending off
young misses with their male French and music
professors cannot be commended. Here as
everywhere, drinking began as soon as the boat
started. and kept up until it moored at the wharf
at 10 o'clock Nj. 1t is not dangerous drinking;
the wines are light, and it is the custom of the
country. Those native and to the manner born,
who knew the Rhine like a book,
glanced their eyes to the banks
studded with ruins, castles, fine residences, and
lined with vineyards. and rural villages with
musical names and the half dozen larger towns
and even cities of world wide reputation. The
traveller from a distance could be told by the
eager look and constant reference to the
'Badeker" in hand or lap. At Bonn the piano.
rama of beauty and of legendary lore begins.
will not attempt to describe it in detail. or to
transcribe the guide-book; but it is lovely in all
it's forms-vine-clad banks that dip into the
water; crags and castles. both in ruins and re-
pair; green terraces that rise backward for a
hundred feet, and rocky walls that shoot up
ward four or five more hundred, crowned
with the remains of old Notifications. The trail
of the Roman was down the Rhine. Here
Drusus marched, and conquered. and builded
and in Mayence there is shown in the museum
a monument erected to his memory, while
everywhere history records his greatness. Here
is Stoltzenfels, with its castle repaired and &C.
cupied; there is Dracherfels with its castle
ruined and its grim height, indeed, a dragons
rock. The cave is to be where Siegfried
slew the dragon. and thus became the hero of
the Niebelungen Lied; St. Goar, with its ven
cradle traditions, is of our stopping places
not now to take on board the old saint, but to
secure a consignment of the wines for which it
IS now more famous than for saintliness There,
towering up in forbidding sternness, and round
ing out into the river, is the Lorelei rock, at
The base of which, when the tide runs low, you
IAN Thy faith) the forms of the seven sisters
who were taught such fearful lesson by the
Lorelei in the fatal art of coquetry. We pass
johannesburg, and Rudesheim, and Baccharach,
Ind many other places, whose names are given |
and export The Rhine wines must |
,eally be made from grapes It seems to me |
hat grapes enough are raised the green |
slopes of this river and on the undulating plains |
urther into the interior out of which to express |
vine enough to answer the demands of this bib |
llous generation. Whether any gets beyond |
he sea or not, may be questionable; but fancy |
hat the wine drnker here may sip at ease; |
s pc ially on Rhine boat he has the evidence |
If things not seen before his eyes; the substance |
# the thing he hopes for he smacks his lips |
'ver his favorite beverage and tickles his nose |
With its bouquet. About the middle of the ride |
1oblenZ comes into view at the mouth of the |
ioselle-fragrant ame-and opposite the ia |
nous fortress of Ehrenbreitstein. Honor's |
'road stone is beautiful for situation. and it's
site cannot be doubted. The fort
ess has been thoroughly repaired, and is now
maintained at full strength with complement |
f four hundred guns Byron has added to the
lory of Ehrenbreitstein, and indeed you can
carcely set foot among the historic places of
Germany and Switzerland where .'Childe Har-
Id" did not precede you, and has left the special
harm Of his genius. Still the river flows on be-
ween the ever-changing banks of vineyards,
astle, ruin and chateau, and for hours the de-
ghtful panorama unrolls before you. had
watched with some interest the taking up of the
ickets, well the polyglot patois of the
assengers, and was impressed with the large
lumber who were billeted for Bingen, and the
till larger number who were on the oui vive
or that SPOT After Ehren breitstein had been
assed all the expectancy and talk was for
singen. lis that Bingenp asked scores if
OF hundreds of times of the walters of one Of
he boat-hands, who generally returned dis
listed negative, curiously wondering, possibly,
THAT there was in Bingen to cause
0 much commotion. Not Bingen;
that is Bingen above any other of
core of places! But Hon. Mrs. Norton had lifted
'ingsn out of the commonplace, and it was her
ong that every one had sung that made Fair
,ingen" the Mecca Of all Rhine pilgrimages
he day was just fading we neared the place.
he rosy beams of sun that had shone with full
L IL 1890 inn